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Scottish Life launches new support package for IFAs
11 December 2008
Scottish Life, the pensions specialist arm of the Royal London Group, has introduced new Income Release annual review documents to help IFAs better advise their clients and fulfil their Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) obligations.
Income Release, introduced in December 2007, enables IFAs and their clients to maximise the flexibility provided by A-day rule changes, as well as providing a traditional income drawdown facility. It allows customers to take a tax-free lump sum from their pension plan after the age of 50 (age 55 from April 2010) while still building up their pension fund.
The annual review documents have been designed to provide IFAs with all the information they require to review each client's plan and identify whether changes need to be made to current investments and/or income levels. They will be issued to IFAs six weeks prior to the client's review date. As well as receiving an annual statement for each client, IFAs can also request ad hoc reviews.
Complementing the annual review documents, new annual customer statements are also being launched. These will help customers to understand the value of their plan and encourage them to seek more regular advice from their IFA.
Keith MacPherson, Head of Individual Business at Scottish Life, said:
"The FSA requires IFAs to regularly review existing clients' plans, yet our adviser research identified that most providers do not have a robust process that provides an IFA with all the information they require to review and advise their income drawdown clients.
"By providing IFAs with all the information necessary to conduct regular reviews, we're making the task easier for them and also helping them to meet their TCF obligations. In addition, we're giving IFAs a perfect reason to contact their clients and encourage them to set up an appointment to discuss their financial requirements. This could, of course, provide an opportunity to generate additional revenue.
"Similarly our research identified that information provided to clients by most income drawdown providers was confusing. Hence our decision to create new documentation focused specifically at policyholders."
The adviser review document includes information such as:
- current plan value, including the crystallised and uncrystallised split
- current and maximum available income
- fund performance
- critical yields & required rates of return to maintain income
- pension commencement lump sum (PCLS) available.
Samples of the new documents are available from www.scottishlife.co.uk/irr
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For further information please contact:
Scottish Life
Alasdair Buchanan, Head of Communications
0131 456 7133
Keith MacPherson, Head of Individual Business
0131 456 7471
Polhill Communications
Nicola Pierce / Jenette Greenwood
020 7655 0530
Editor's Notes:
Scottish Life was founded in 1881 in Edinburgh as a proprietary company, becoming a mutual company in 1968.
On 1 July 2001, Scottish Life demutualised and transferred its business to The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited. Scottish Life is a division of Royal London and is the specialist pensions business within the Group, providing individual and group pensions to the market via intermediaries.
Scottish Life and Royal London's other intermediary businesses are based mainly in Edinburgh where 1,200 staff are employed, with 740 working in other parts of the UK and overseas.
Royal London Group is a specialist financial service provider. Its businesses focus on those sectors of the market which value quality propositions, operating through a number of brands:
- Scottish Life - UK pensions market
- Bright Grey - UK protection market
- Scottish Provident - UK protection market
- Phoenix Life Assurance Limited - provides life and pensions products to Abbey's national branch network
- Scottish Life International - offshore investment markets
- Scottish Provident International - offshore investment markets
- RLAM - fund management
- RLAS - life and pensions administration
- Fundsdirect / Ascentric - funds supermarket; Wrap platform
Royal London is the largest mutual life and pensions company in the UK with Group funds under management of £34.5 billion. Group businesses serve around 3.5 million customers and employ 2,900 people. Figures quoted are as at 30 September 2008.
